Dill speaks to NSDAR about harvesting methane from trash

February 16, 2013

Former Mayor and Chairman of the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, Kenny Dill, spoke to the Horseshoe Robertson Chapter of the NSDAR during their monthly meeting at the Bryan Public Library Wednesday.
â€śYou really never think about making money from garbage, but the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority has been doing just that since October of 2011,â€ť explained Dill. â€śWe take garbage and collect the methane gas that is produced and sell it to TVA. They convert the gas to make clean, green electricity.â€ť
This is the perfect way to recycle solid landfill waste on a large scale. The garbage trucks pick up the household waste, transport it to a safe landfill (no hazardous or medical waste is allowed) where the methane gas released is sent into pipes and collected to be sold to TVA to convert it into electricity. The project covers six counties, Clay, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Webster, Choctaw and Noxubee. The landfill adheres to strict EPA standards.
Small landfills are simply not able to sustain the new requirements laid down by the federal guidelines. But the six county cooperative is able to sustain a large landfill able to keep up with the federal mandates for operating under EPA regulations.
The amount of methane gas that is converted from our regional landfill can produce enough electricity to power between 400 and 700 homes a month.
The Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Management Authority competed against other waste management systems and won a national award for landfill utilization.
â€śOurs is the only regional landfill owned and operated by the counties that it serves,â€ť said Dill.
â€śMost are given over to corporations to run, thus cutting into the profits paid to the counties. This way the money stays within the six counties that benefit from the landfill.â€ť
If you are interested in conservation and recycling, West Point offers the large recycling bins for aluminum, plastics, paper, old electrical devices and other materials at the far right parking lot of Pass It On.